Metal Lungies

Copping a Danny Brown verse equates to a willingness to be upstaged, but Ab-Soul still commands plenty attention as an abject TDE foot soldier.

Download: Ab-Soul – Terrorist Threats (ft. Danny Brown, Jhene Aiko) (produced by Dave Free)

via Top Dawg Entertainment

I’m so glad there’s a rapper with a name as awesome as SpaceGhostPurrp whose music is actually well worth sharing.

Download: SpaceGhostPurrp – Lustful ’97

(Image from Interview Mag)

Maybe I exclusively should start highlighting interviews that are worth reading or something. Here is an extremely likable brief profile & interview over at the illustrious Interview Mag conducted by David Shapiro. We learn that Wacka really likes to record raps, no matter where he is, that includes the back for non-flashy sedans.

After we’re done, Waka Flocka Flame picks up his phone and walks outside the tattoo parlor. We follow him out and find him sitting in the back seat of a red Toyota Camry, next to a guy with a Macbook Pro on his lap, with a microphone set up in the middle seat between them. Waka has headphones on and he’s rapping into the microphone in the back seat of the car while his crew stands on the sidewalk and marvels about the mobile recording studio in the car. He looks like he’s having a good time in there.

His favorite snack is also Salt & Vingar chips, how can you really hate the guy?

Read the full interview here.

Yesterday, the upcoming media outlet known as Time dropped their ‘100 Most Influential People in the World‘. No one really in hip hop said much about Time’s list omitting rappers. It’s true they didn’t have many musicians on the list, and entertainment in general. Other influential people in the world picked the likes of Rihanna, Louis CK, Jose Andres, etc. No one picked a single rapper. In my eyes the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye, even Drake are more influential than the aforementioned. What does this all mean, are rappers not influential or did Time just reach out to a bunch of people that didn’t find rappers to be influential (I mean, why didn’t the secretary of Education, Arne Duncan pick Lil B?? HE JUST LECTURED AT NYU). I’m guessing it’s the latter. What does influential even mean? Tyler the Creator can probably organize a riot of teenagers before you can say “Time”, isn’t that influential?

Sidebar: how ironic that Jeremy Lin picked Tim Tebow?

New Brighton based artist Tourist, or more easily Google searched as William Phillips, is someone who I’ve been meaning to write about for months now. A friend sent me a link to Placid Acid back in January and I couldn’t get enough. I sought out everything else he had recorded to tide me over until he released his first EP which dropped just a few weeks ago (and is fantastic). Luckily, he also posts remixes under the name Little Loud that are just as great to listen to. Placid Acid feels like there should be lyrics to memorize even when none are present. It’s reminiscent of Jamie XX and Animal Collective without feeling like a knock-off which is refreshing in the middle of the EDM era we’re currently in. His sound is versatile; translating anywhere from easy-listening to dance floor.

Check out Placid Acid before he gets big, I promise you won’t regret it:

 

If all rappers told stories as good as GZA, then there would be a lot more interesting interviews with rappers on the internets. Also, if all interviews were made into cartoons like this? I would probably watch every single video interview ever made. Props to Pitchfork.

Rev. William Burke has been shadowing RZA for some time now, but they’re so casual about releasing music that it seems like Burke is content to remain a footnote on Wikipedia articles. On “Thank God,” Burke displays uncanny mic skills — the kind that make you want to transcribe his lyrics and try to recite them. Immaculate, dynamic brag rap with a hallowed air thanks to baleful Wu-Tang production. He’s a worthy sidekick for RZA: low-key and deceptively talented.

It’s great that G-Side’s production is only getting weirder. This beat sounds like it took a horse tranquilizer to the jugular — and it was made by G-Side’s very own Clova.

No joke, I nearly had an anxiety attack when I saw this on the Coachella stream an hour ago.

After some digging around, I’m led to believe that a company named Musion created this mind boggling “performance” of 2pac.  A bunch of “news” sources quoted Deutsche Telekom as the creator, but my guy Victor pointed out to me Deutsche Telekom is german for T-Mobile. After some more researching, DT just sponsored Musion to create a Mariah Carey concert this past Christmas, they don’t make the holographic technology. Hope that clears up some confusion. I hope some tech blog or wired can do a detailed piece on the entire thing, though.

The loudest performance in rap today comes from Waka Flocka screaming his head off for rowdy clubgoers. “Don’t Die” by Killer Mike will put the same 50,000 volt battery in your back, but instead of charging you up for a fight in the bathroom, it’ll make you want to flip over a police car. Rap hasn’t been this incendiary in decades.

via Pitchfork